BOSTON — The Orioles have made it official. Baltimore selected the contract of top prospect Jackson Holliday on Wednesday while designating second baseman and outfielder Tony Kemp for assignment in a corresponding move. Holliday will wear No. 7.
Holliday will join the Orioles in Boston, batting ninth and playing second base Wednesday after the natural shortstop made the switch across the diamond during spring training. Baseball’s consensus No. 1 overall prospect will join Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio as the only active 20-year-olds in the majors.
Holliday, who wore No. 87 during spring training and No. 18 with Triple-A Norfolk this season, becomes the seventh player in Orioles history to don No. 7 and the first since Billy Ripken in 1988. Late manager Cal Ripken Sr. also wore No. 7. Cal Ripken Jr., who rejoined the Orioles as a minority partner in David Rubenstein’s ownership group this season, wrote on the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, “Our family is thrilled that [Holliday] will be wearing dad’s #7 … Excited to watch him play!”
Holliday’s father, Matt, a seven-time MLB All-Star and four-time Silver Slugger Award winner, wore No. 7 during his seven years with the St. Louis Cardinals and with the Colorado Rockies in 2018.
“Very respectfully, I know that the Holliday family had kind of made reference to No. 7,” Billy Ripken said Wednesday morning on MLB Network. “My brother did touch base with me actually this morning and he says, ‘What do you think?’ And I said, ‘You know what? If anybody is going to do it, I think that family is going to honor the fact that Sr. was a part of that and it gives us another opportunity to throw Sr. out there.’ So, I’m all on board with it.”
Shortstop Mark Belanger, who played 17 years in Baltimore and was named an All-Star in 1976, and infielder Jerry Adair, who played nine seasons with the Orioles from 1958 to 1966, also donned No. 7.
Kemp, 32, signed a one-year, $1 million deal with the Orioles two days before opening day after a strong spring with the Cincinnati Reds. The left-handed hitting utility player went 0-for-9 in five games with the Orioles. He’ll be subject to irrevocable waivers and, if he clears, will have the right to elect free agency over a minor league assignment.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday, Kemp shared his support for Holliday.
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“In the fall of 2010, our college had a series against the Longhorns for a 3 game set. Our hitting coach at the time was Josh Holliday and his brother, Matt, brought his kid to our early practice. I remember watching his son @J_Holliday7 with a sweet lefty swing. Go get em’ kid!”